NEWS

Quagmire for People in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Request to Leaders of Developed Countries

February 22, 2008

Quagmire for People in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
A Request to Leaders of Developed Countries

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s people have faced dire living conditions for many years. The entire world has condemned the predicament in which the DRC's innocent and defenseless people continually find themselves. Everyone knows what needs be done to relieve these people from their senseless misery. Their suffering must be seen only as the international community's refusal to assist people in distress. The United States of America, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom, the so-called "leaders of the free world," have tacitly condoned this perpetual human calamity in the DRC. They have the power and all the means needed to end the madness that is going on in the DRC: invasions from neighboring countries, the savage plundering of the DRC’s natural resources, indiscriminate killings, rapes of females of any age, and the imposition of moral and psychological trauma on people only because their country is known as a geological gold mine, harboring natural resources the entire world wishes to control.

These defenseless people in the DRC are forced to live a Stone Age life in this 21st century. Multinational corporations from the above-mentioned countries enjoy plundering the DRC’s natural resources, regardless of the unbearable suffering of the DRC's people. The world needs a profound change of leadership, a change that will stop the suffering of people in the DRC and in other parts of the world. This change must start in the United States of America.

Some evil people in the Kingdom of Belgium, a country that should help the DRC to escape the quagmire it finds itself in, managed to sabotage the DRC's presidential elections in 2006, by installing the least capable of the Rwandans as the “elected” president of the DRC, an individual who is highly incompetent by any and all measures. The Kingdom of Belgium bears most of the blame for the misery and suffering of the DRC's innocent people.

If not for the interference of bands of gangsters supported by the multinational corporations from developed countries, the DRC could be on the path to success by now, and its people's suffering could be alleviated. These bands of gangsters are monsters who the DRC cannot successfully deal with alone. The DRC's people need the help, compassion and assistance of people of goodwill in the United States of America, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and other developed countries to secure everlasting peace and prosperity in their country, the DRC, by exposing these gangsters and their evil multinational connections.

Please, be patient, listen and watch this series of videos that illustrate the quandary the DRC's people find themselves in. If these videos inspire you to help the DRC's people recover peace and prosperity in their country, please feel free to contact us. Following are links to the videos:

Had the international community, with the United Nations' power, dealt fairly with the defenseless people of the DRC, these debasements of life could not exist:

- more than 5,000,000 deaths since 1998, according to the International Red Cross
- more than 38,000 deaths per month; 1200 deaths per day
- hundreds of women and girls raped, according to Human Rights Watch
- about 585,000 children die every year due to wars
- about 1.4-1.6 million displaced due to wars

Had the international community, with the United Nations' power, considered the DRC's people human beings living on the African continent, who deserved protection and a better life than they are currently living:

- the governments of Rwanda and Uganda would not have a free pass to plunder the DRC's natural resources under the pretext of pursuing forces that threaten peace in their country
- the actions of the Rwandan and Ugandan governments, fighting in the city of Kisangani from August 14-17, 1999 and again from June 5-10, 2000, leaving behind desolation and a human toll amounting to more than 1000 deaths and 3000 wounded, would not be tolerated
- 17,000 United Nations blue helmets, well equipped with a budget of US$1 billion per year, could bring relief, progressive peace and prosperity to localities where Rwandese and Ugandese forces terrorize the DRC's people and commit obscene acts against humanity

Had the international community, with the United Nations' power, protected the DRC as it protects other member countries:

- the multinational corporations would not have free reign to cause calamity, desolation and misery in the DRC by plundering its natural resources remorselessly
- the DRC's people could be leading a pleasant and prosperous life, with 80% of the world's reserve of coltan, a mineral used in modern electronics, jets and weaponry; and with the DRC's copper, gold, diamonds and oil
- the DRC's timber, fauna, flora, wildlife and rainforest would be protected against the environment destruction caused by multinational corporations' savage plundering

Had the international community, with the United Nations' power, committed to bringing democracy and the rule of law to the DRC:

- the Belgian government would not have been allowed to thwart true democracy in the DRC by installing the least qualified of the Rwandans, a highly incompetent individual, as “elected president” of a country in search of everlasting peace and prosperity
- the corruption could have been thwarted and the protection of the people and their goods could have been ensured by now
- an effective national army and police force, and effective justice for the people, could be forming, and democracy could be blossoming in a country racked with wars and misery

The United Nations acted swiftly to evict Iraq from Kuwait, yet has condoned the invasions of the DRC by Rwanda and Uganda, and remained silent even when these two countries fought inside the DRC, in the city of Kisangani, for control of the DRC's rich natural resources.

The United Nations is aware of some multinational corporations' involvement in fueling wars in the DRC, and in relentlessly plundering its natural resources, including coltan, gold, copper, diamonds and timber.

The following multinational corporations are often cited as being involved in sustaining the DRC's people's misery: Cabot Corporation, Eagle Wings Resources International …in the USA; De Beers, anglo American Plc, Afrimex …in the United Kingdom; Cogem, Trademet SA, Sogem …in Belgium; Tenke Mining Corporation, First Quantum Minerals, International Panorama Resources Corporation … in Canada. A respected body of nations such as the United Nations cannot condone these companies destruction of the future of an entire nation, the DRC, and the hopes of all its people.

"American, Canadian, and European corporations' pilfering of Congo's natural resources is inextricably linked to the heinous rapes and appalling deaths. Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reminded the world in his January 2008 interview with the Financial Times of London that "The international community has systematically looted the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and we should not forget that."

A myriad of reports since 2001 has documented the pillaging of the Congo by neighboring countries and western corporations and its role in fueling the conflict in the Congo. To the chagrin of many human rights groups and people of conscience throughout the globe, western nations have refused to hold their corporations accountable and put the necessary pressure on their client states of Rwanda and Uganda to keep their hands off theCongo.

Congo's gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, coltan, tin, chromium, germanium, nickel, and uranium are central to the functioning of many modern amenities such as cell phones, computers, electronic devices, our children's video game consoles, kitchen appliances, automobiles, airplanes, and numerous other devices. Its rainforest, often called the World's second lung, is central to the world's battle against climate change. Undoubtedly we in the West are indirectly benefiting from the pilfering and the widespread killing in the Congo." (Friends of the Congo, Press Release, February 15, 2008)

The United Nations should act, with its 17,000 men in the DRC, to enforce the will of civilized nations. So far, that will has not been the objective of the UN's presence in the DRC. Acting in this manner is unlikely to enable the UN to bring and maintain peace in the world, or to stop the flood of immigration in developed countries.

The DRC's people must find the ways and means to escape the maze the UN has left them in.

To invade the DRC, the Republics of Rwanda and Uganda used Laurent Desire Kabila as a front man. To plunder the DRC, the Republic of Rwanda and multinational corporations use Joseph Kabila, aka Hyppolite Kanambe, a Rwandan national, as a Congolese front man, and managed to place him at the helm of the DRC as "elected president."

True and effective democracy in the Congo will not emerge from this evil and mediocrity. The UN should honestly and vigorously facilitate a substantive transition to democracy in the DRC.

We wish this message to reach every Congolese native and all friends of the Congolese people. Please, spread the word--before it is too late.

God exists for all humanity.

Sincerely,

For the National Movement for Democracy and Federalism,
Organization Member of the Advocacy Network for Africa,